The songs that define America

Consider This from NPR

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🗓️ 4 July 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

Independence Day means different things to each of us. On this 249th birthday for America, we spend some time looking at different definitions of America by revisiting NPR's 2018 series: American Anthem — which had the simple goal of telling 50 stories about 50 songs that have become galvanizing forces in American culture.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Independence Day means different things to each of us, and even though there is only one official national anthem...
0:08.0	There are a whole lot more songs that help define America.
0:16.0	Oh, beautiful life,, spacious skies.
0:24.5	Like America the Beautiful, courtesy here of Ray Charles, which marvels at the nation as it is, but also as it could be.
0:33.3	America! America! America America
0:38.8	May God
0:43.2	thy gold refined
0:45.7	till
0:48.7	of success
0:52.4	be nobleness
0:56.7	and
0:59.2	ever again divine
1:02.5	or Woody Guthrie's
1:04.7	this land is your land
1:06.4	which hands each of us
1:07.9	the keys
1:08.6	and the redwood forest
1:10.6	to the Gulf Stream waters this which hands each of us the keys. Today, on America's 249th birthday, we're going to do something a little bit different.
1:23.5	We're going to dig into some songs that have become galvanizing forces in American culture from NPR's American Anthem series.
1:32.4	It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.
1:36.7	This message comes from Wise, the app for doing things and other currencies.
1:41.4	With Wise, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate,
	...

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